Clearing the Fog of War

Bergdahl hires attorney as investigator visits Fort Sam

SAN ANTONIO — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has hired a high-profile attorney and may have met Wednesday with an investigator looking into allegations of misconduct while Bergdahl was in Afghanistan.

Lawyer Eugene Fidell denounced leaks by government officials as “disturbing” and likened some of the accusations against his client to the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth campaign that damaged former Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid.

“There are people who have spoken that have vilified him in the media, sometimes using their own names and sometimes not,” Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale, told the San Antonio Express-News. “He's been turned into a kind of punching bag in some circles, and my job is to defend him.”

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Bergdahl goes to work at Fort Sam Houston

SAN ANTONIO — A month after arriving in San Antonio for the third and final stage of his rehabilitation process, former prisoner of war Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl went to work at a desk job Monday at U.S. Army North in San Antonio.

He'll perform administrative duties at the headquarters on Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, but it was unclear what precisely his job would entail.

“He's going to be doing soldier duties commensurate with his rank and qualifications,” said Don Manuszewski, a spokesman for Army North. “Like anybody else, he'll go through a period of training to go through our processes and procedures.”

The move ends six weeks of closely scrutinized counseling, four of them in San Antonio under an Army South program designed to slowly ease former prisoners back into society. He is living in noncommissioned officers quarters on Fort Sam and can come and go as he pleases from the post.

Read more here: http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/military/article/Bergdahl-goes-to-work-at-Fort-Sam-5621383.php

Army major found dead at Fort Sam

An active-duty U.S. Army major was found dead Monday in his dorm at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.

In a brief statement, U.S. Army North said the officer was found at 7 a.m. after Fort Sam's fire department took a call about a water leak.

The Army did not identify the major pending notification of next of kin, and did not give a possible cause of death. The statement said major was found in his room at the Warrior Transition Battalion dorm, home to hundreds of wounded soldiers.

“Although foul play is not suspected at this point in the investigation, we have not completely ruled it out in order to conduct a complete and thorough investigation,” said Chris Grey, a spokesman with the Army's Criminal Investigation Command.

Since August 2011, 14 soldiers assigned to the battalion have died of wounds or illnesses, said Dewey Mitchell, a spokesman for the Army's Brooke Army Medical Center command.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Major-found-dead-at-Fort-Sam-4532491.php#ixzz2V6R4l4k9

Caldwell to retire as Army North commander

U.S. Army North commander Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, who oversaw missions at critical junctures in Iraq and Afghanistan, will retire from the Army this year.

He'll leave San Antonio for his native Georgia, where he'll become president of Georgia Military College.

“We have made some absolutely wonderful friends and relationships that will endure well beyond our departure,” Caldwell said in a letter revealing his retirement from Army North, also known to many here as the 5th U.S. Army.

A former 82nd Airborne Division commander, he oversaw the dramatic growth of Afghan security forces from 2009 to 2011. Those forces in his tenure went from 190,000 soldiers and police to about 330,000.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Caldwell-to-retire-as-Army-North-commander-4349600.php